Posted: 12/20/05
Schutte gets 82 month jail term
James Dean Schutte, 24, Rochester, was sentenced to 82 months in prison on December 14 by Third District Court Judge James Fabian
Schutte pled guilty on October 13 to one count of criminal vehicular operation resulting in death.
The former Caledonia man was the driver of a Pontiac Grand Prix that crashed into a tree on Green Acres Road in Caledonia on April 6, killing Matthew J. Atkinson, 20, of Backus, MN.
He also pled guilty to one count of criminal vehicular operation resulting in substantial bodily harm and one count of driving after revocation. Another passenger, Kelly Jo Shefelbine, 34, of Rochester, who was in the front seat, had a back injury and two ribs broken.
Schutte also pled guilty to motor vehicle use without consent, which resulted from a different case.
No arrests in burglaries
No arrests have been made on the burglaries that occurred at Good Times Restaurant in Caledonia and Spring Grove Legion Club on the night of December 7. A person or persons forced entry through a door on the south side of Good Times building and stole more than $3,000.
The staff at the American Legion found that the outside door to the building had been forced open sometime in the early morning hours of December 8, Spring Grove Police Chief Paul Folz said. Taken was approximately $1500 in cash and other items.
Anyone with information can call Houston County Crime Stoppers at 507-725-5122. Information that leads to an arrest and/or conviction may entitle a person to a cash reward.
Dent case under advisement
Richard Allen Dent, 40, plead not guilty on Dec. 14 two felony counts of receiving stolen property. He requested a jury trial with a speedy trial demand, meaning the case must be heard within 60 days.
Dent was charged on October 31 after police searched his home in Caledonia. He is currently in the Houston County Jail.
Janse Randall Bjergum, 24, of Spring Grove was charged in the case on November 3 with two felony counts of receiving stolen property. Authorities recovered stolen property from various burglaries and thefts at his house in Spring Grove. He was released from the Houston County Jail on a $25,000 bail bond. An omnibus hearing for him has been set for January 4, 2006, at 1:30 p.m.
Charges of meth possession and receiving stolen property were also filed November 1 against Robert Dean Ellis, 49, Mabel.
Deputies recovered stolen property from burglaries that occurred in all three counties. Tools, guns, food, and hunting and trapping equipment were confiscated.
Other search warrants of houses thought to be connected with the burglaries were executed in Mabel and Harpers Ferry, IA.
Richmond case under advisement
The marijuana case against Mark Casey Richmond, 37, of Houston, was taken under advisement by Judge James Fabian on December 14. No new court date has been set.
Richmond and Patrick Daniel Dingley, 37, of Rochester, are charged in a marijuana-growing case in Houston County. They were charged September 15 with four counts of third degree conspiracy to manufacture drugs on September 15. They are accused of growing 286 marijuana plants in three different groves on U.S. Fish and Wildlife land and the Gillette property near the Root River in rural Hokah Township.
A plea hearing for Dingley is set for January 30 at 11:30. Dingley and Richmond are both free on bail.
Daley trial set for January 5
The trial date for Anthony Daley, 20, Caledonia, has been set for January 5, with a pre-trial hearing on January 4.
Daley was charged on November 18 with first and second degree burglary, criminal damage to property, fifth degree assault, and underaged consumption of alcohol. He allegedly broke down the door to a womanís home and physically assaulted her on November 17.
Shefelbine sentenced
Ronnie Shefelbine of Caledonia was sentenced on December 14 to 11 months in the Houston County Jail, beginning December 27, 2005. He was also placed on five years probation, and ordered to pay up to $1,000 for cleanup costs.
Shefelbine entered an Alford plea of guilty to aiding and abetting the manufacture of of a controlled substance in the fifth degree on Sept. 27. In an Alford plea, a defendant may plead guilty yet not admit all the facts that comprise the crime.
Shefelbine is one of five men who were charged in September of 2003 in a methamphetamine bust in a trailer home near Eitzen. Part of his sentence included having no direct or indirect contact with the other four men convicted in the case, Theodore Hauver, Levi Jones, Thomas Monson, and Todd Weston.
No news on cause of childís death
Caledonia Police Chief Randy Shefelbine told The Argus on December 19 that there was no new information on the cause of death of two-year-old Dylan King in Caledonia on December 5. Toxicology reports are not done, and could take two weeks to a month to complete, Shefelbine said.
Caledonia Argus
314 West Lincoln St.
P.O. Box 227
Caledonia, MN 55921-0227
507/724-3475
E-Mail: editor.argus@ecm-inc.com